Syria

The UN's humanitarian chief has called on Syria to urgently allow fuel imports for aid deliveries and give access to 10 more aid agencies. Valerie Amos met government officials in the capital, Damascus, to discuss the growing humanitarian crisis. (..) More than 2.5 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, according to UN estimates. In addition, more than 500,000 Syrians have fled their homes to neighbouring countries.

Desperate food shortages are growing in parts of Syria and residents of the northern city of Aleppo say fist fights and dashes across the frontlines have become part of the daily struggle to secure a loaf of bread. (..) Valerie Amos said in Rome on Friday that the UN was committed to maintaining aid operations in Syria. (..) The World Food Programme says as many as a million Syrians may go hungry this winter, as worsening security conditions make it harder to reach conflict zones.

After 21 months of war, at least two million Syrians have been forced to leave their homes. Hundreds of thousands have fled abroad, where they live in dire conditions. But most are displaced inside Syria – camping in tents, sharing overcrowded rooms with relatives, renting private flats, or squatting in shivering school buildings. (..) The cardinal problem is bread – Syria's most important food staple. There is not enough to go round.

The United Nations’ World Food Program warned this week that the escalating violence in Syria is causing food shortages throughout the country. Factories have been bombed. Roads and farm fields are pockmarked with deep craters left by missiles. (..) Some of the most acute food shortages are in northern Syria, where fighting has been intense since the summer.

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians displaced by the war, many of them stumbling out of Syria during the summer wearing little more than T-shirts and flip-flops, now face the onslaught of winter with inadequate shelter, senior government officials and aid organizations say. (..) With temperatures already plunging to zero overnight in the hills framing this valley, the humanitarian crisis facing millions of displaced Syrians is deepening. (..) Some 2.5 million people need humanitarian assistance, and the number keeps climbing.

Winter is approaching fast for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, who are facing night-time temperatures that regularly dip below zero. (..) The overall plan includes the distribution of mattresses, blankets, warm clothes, stoves for heating and fuel, implemented with partners including Caritas, the World Food Programme, the Danish Refugee Council, World Vision, the UN Population Fund and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (..) The continuing stream of Syrian refugees into Lebanon will only make things harder.

Last month, the World Food Programme (WFP) began a partnership with the Turkish Red Crescent for a new food voucher programme that will initially provide 13,000 refugees in Kilis camp with cash credit on electronic cards with which to buy their own food. “This Turkish Red Crescent/WFP Food e-Card system will help the government make very substantial savings,” Jean-Yves Lequime, WFP’s emergency coordinator in Turkey, told IRIN. “It’s an innovative approach for providing food assistance that is sustainable and replicable and could also serve as a model for supporting other refugee populations in the region.”

WASHINGTON -- Today Secretary Clinton announced that the United States is providing $30 million in additional humanitarian assistance to help those affected by the conflict in Syria. With this new assistance, the United States is providing nearly $200 million in humanitarian aid to help those suffering as a result of the Assad regime’s violence inside Syria and in neighboring countries.In Syria, this funding will allow for the immediate procurement of food in local and regional markets to provide family food baskets to those in need, which contain vital necessities such as rice, beans, and cooking oil. In neighboring countries, this additional assistance from the United States will provide food supplies, hot meals, and food vouchers for families who have fled the violence in Syria. This additional assistance will be provided through the World Food Program (WFP), which is providing food aid to 1.5 million people in Syria and the refugees who have fled to neighboring countries. The United States is the largest donor of food aid for those affected by the conflict in Syria through WFP.

The head of the United Nations food relief agency today expressed her thanks to the people and Government of Lebanon for their support of Syrians seeking refuge from the violence affecting their country.“We are grateful for the generosity of the Lebanese people and their Government for keeping an open door policy to displaced Syrians in search of safety and for facilitating WFP’s work in Lebanon to assist Syrian refugees,” said the UN World Food Programme’s (WFP), Ertharin Cousin.